


baby you're a daydream

by vitale



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 14:42:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19466143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vitale/pseuds/vitale
Summary: Ronan keeps showing up at his job for some ungodly reason. Adam is too tired for this.





	baby you're a daydream

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday to the best boy ever adam parrish
> 
> not a birthday fic i just finished this a few days ago and thought i’d post it for his birthday lol 
> 
> hope you enjoy!

“No fucking way.”

Ronan Lynch turns at the sound of his voice and actually looks surprised to see Adam at the counter, despite knowing for a fact Adam works the closing shift at this convenience store four consecutive days a week. And there it is; that self-important smirk, the wry raise of his eyebrows that makes Adam want to throw whatever he’s currently holding at Ronan’s face every time he sees it. Today is hardly an exception.

“Hey, Parrish. Come here often?”

“This is my workplace.”

“It’s a joke, Jesus. You’re prickly in the evening.”

“Are you stalking me or something?” Adam blurts out impatiently.

Ronan rolls his eyes at him, setting his items on the counter. “Fuck no. I’m just here to get some stuff.”

“This is the fourth night in a row. Your apartment is half an hour away.”

“I was around.”

Adam narrows his eyes at him suspiciously. Ronan holds his gaze, utterly unperturbed. Adam is loath to lose a staring contest against Ronan Lynch, but it’s not like Adam can turn away a customer, and his brain is screaming at him not to make this any longer than it needs to be so he can get on with his evening. Adam sighs longsufferingly and starts ringing up Ronan’s items (a bag of chips, a pack of razors and a bottle of whipped cream), annoyingly aware of Ronan’s restless fidgeting a few steps from him. There’s no one else in the store, because it’s _10 in the evening_ , and Adam has no idea why Ronan would need whipped cream at 10 pm, but he’s not going to ask.

“Aren’t you closing soon?” Ronan asks, like he can read Adam’s mind. It’s a simple question, but for some reason, it sounds awkward and stilted, like Ronan has been practicing it. It’s a ridiculous thought, so Adam quickly brushes it away.

“In ten,” Adam mutters distractedly.

“I can give you a ride,” Ronan offers casually. Adam looks up from the cash register and gives Ronan a weird look. Adam’s only been in Ronan’s car a few times before, the first time they’d all gone out together after Blue and Gansey had started dating and a couple times after that, and he and Ronan had never been alone in the car. Adam didn’t really think they were close enough for Ronan to offer him a ride, but maybe Ronan is feeling benevolent tonight.

“No thanks. I live five minutes away.”

“I don’t mind dropping you off.”

“If you keep insisting, I’m really going to assume you’ve finally decided to murder me and hide my body in your trunk.”

Adam snickers a little at his own joke. Ronan doesn’t react to it, which is a little odd because this sort of joke is right up his alley, but Adam quickly shrugs it off and hands him his change.

“You seen Blue recently?” Ronan asks conversationally. It takes a moment for the question to register in Adam’s mind. Adam is _exhausted,_ and he’s barely gotten any sleep last night, and he’s really not in the mood for small talk or whatever Ronan is leading up to. He’d much rather Ronan just take his stuff and leave.

“Blue is my roommate, Lynch. I see her every day.”

“She hasn’t been answering Gansey’s texts.”

Adam runs a hand over his face wearily. “Did Gansey send you here?”

Ronan bristles at that, and Adam belatedly remembers it’s something of a sore spot. “Like hell he did. I’m not his fucking attack dog.”

Adam hums placatingly and gets to counting the money in the register.

Ronan is still standing there thirty seconds later. Adam arches a questioning brow at him and he immediately averts his gaze, which is decidedly uncharacteristic behavior. He looks more uncomfortable than Adam ever remembers seeing him as he stares down at his feet, and Adam heaves an exasperated sigh.

“Alright. Out with it.”

“What?”

“Did you fight with Gansey and want to crash at my place?”

“Huh? No.”

“Well, you’re obviously stalling, and it’s not because you enjoy my company.”

Adam is expecting a snide comment in response, but he’s met with another silence. Adam looks over at him curiously. Ronan is giving him a _look_ , one unlike his are-you-actually-dumb look or his usual piercing look that’s just meant to make people uncomfortable. It could definitely be Adam’s exhaustion playing tricks on him, but Ronan looks almost _shy._ Adam is ninety percent sure there’s a slight flush of pink spreading over his cheeks.

_What the fuck._

“You’re so rude. I want to speak to the manager.”

Adam can recognize an attempt at deflecting from a mile away. He snorts, hoping his face doesn’t betray his thoughts. “Come back tomorrow. She’s here from ten to five.”

There is no way this is actually Ronan trying to… hit on Adam, right? Even Ronan isn’t that weird. Surely he’d come up with better ideas to court Adam than showing up unexpectedly at his workplace every day and hovering around like a puppy trying to get his attention. Granted, Adam has never seen Ronan flirt with anyone so he has no idea how he operates, but Adam wants to have at least _some_ amount of faith in him.

Adam feels silly for even entertaining the idea.

“Earth to Parrish? You look weird.”

Adam clears his throat and makes a tremendous effort to compose himself. He’s not about to let himself get flustered over _Ronan Lynch_ , goddamnit. “I’m just tired.”

“Can’t you just close now? No one is gonna come in.”

“You would think that, yet here you are coming in every day 15 minutes before closing.”

Ronan shrugs dismissively, like he doesn’t think normal rules apply to him.

“Really, though, why are you still here?” Adam asks tentatively, because now that the idea has taken root in his mind, he needs to get to the bottom of it or it’s going to plague him all night. He makes sure to school his face into a neutral expression, careful not to let his irritation seep into his tone as to not put Ronan out.

“Maybe I was just bored and felt like annoying someone,” Ronan says flippantly after a beat, eyes challenging Adam to say anything.

Adam bites his tongue to keep himself from snapping at him, feeling his patience wear dangerously thin. _Of course_ Ronan is just being a little shit. Driving half an hour just to annoy Adam is incredibly on brand for him. Gansey was probably too busy sulking over Blue to entertain him and he decided to come all the way here to pester Adam instead. How stupid of Adam to assume there was anything else to it.

Adam takes a deep breath to keep his temper in check. He’s not going to give Ronan the pleasure of riling him up tonight. “Okay, well, if you don’t mind, I have a shop to close. Go annoy someone else.”

Adam slams the register shut and makes to push past Ronan, but Ronan grabs his wrist, making him come to a halt. Adam’s first instinct is to wrench it away, but he doesn’t, glaring up at him instead.

The following silence seems to last a lifetime.

“What if I am here because I enjoy your company,” Ronan whispers at last, barely audible, leaving Adam speechless.

It takes Adam almost a full minute to get his breathing under control. His heart is beating ridiculously fast in his chest, and Ronan’s grip on his wrist isn’t strong at all, but his hand feels like it’s burning a mark into Adam’s skin.

It’s a few moments before Adam can speak again. “Well, I’d say it’s a pretty stupid way to spend time with me. We’re all supposed to get together this weekend anyway.”

Ronan lets go of his wrist, but he doesn’t let himself look away from Adam even though Adam can tell he really wants to. “I want to hang out with you. Alone.”

Adam’s face feels like it’s on fire.

“Like, _alone?_ ”

“Yes, alone. As in just the two of us. That word generally only has one meaning.”

Adam huffs. “You know what I mean, asshole.”

Ronan smiles at him sharply, but his eyes soften a little when he says, “Yeah. Like that.”

Adam lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “You’re fucking impossible, you know what? Were you just gonna, what, show up at my job every day and make small talk with me until I took the hint?”

Ronan has the decency to look embarrassed, but he doesn’t deny it. There is no doubt in Adam’s mind that was exactly his plan. Adam should be annoyed, but he’s stupidly endeared.

“So, what do you think?” Ronan asks after a while, swallowing visibly. His face is an interesting shade of crimson. Adam almost contemplates taking a picture for future blackmail purposes. “It’s fine if you don’t want to. I’m just putting it out there.”

Adam takes a deep breath, and lets himself consider it. Of course, Adam thinks Ronan is exceptionally attractive. Anyone with a working pair of eyes would, but Adam has never thought about it past that. Partly because he never thought he’d have a chance in a million years, but also because the first time they had met, Adam had immediately decided Ronan Lynch was the last person Adam would ever want to be closely associated with, let alone anything more than that.

But somewhere along the line, his annoyance at Ronan’s antics had turned into something alarmingly close to fondness and what he used to think of as Ronan being an obnoxious prick is now just Ronan being _Ronan._ He still gets annoyed with Ronan about half the time they spend around each other, but Adam hasn’t felt the urge to flake out on plans just so he wouldn’t have to put up with him in a long time. Adam might even go as far as to say he enjoys Ronan’s presence when Ronan isn’t doing his absolute best to get under Adam’s skin.

The prospect of going out with him doesn’t sound so bad at all, to Adam’s utter horror.

“Since when do you—” Adam trails off, because he _has_ to ask. He’s not sure if he’s allowed to use the word _like_ yet, but luckily Ronan seems to understand what he’s asking before Adam can think of the right word.

“Like six months.”

“That’s as long as we’ve known each other.”

“So?”

“Why didn’t you say anything before?”

Ronan shrugs. “You were seeing that girl, Emma, and then we didn’t see each other for like two months, and I thought you hated me anyway.”

“I only hate you when you’re being a dick,” Adam amends.

“That’s like, all the time.”

“Oh, he’s self-aware. And you _know_ it’s Eva.”

Ronan grins at him, all teeth and flushed cheeks, and if Adam’s heart gives a little tug, no one ever has to know.

“What made you decide to ask me?”

“I got desperate enough,” Ronan deadpans, making Adam scoff.

“I’ll go out with you,” Adam says slowly, half-expecting Ronan to change his mind on the spot or tell him this was all an elaborate prank. Instead, Ronan’s eyes widen slightly and his mouth falls open, like he wasn’t expecting Adam to say yes at all. It makes something in Adam’s chest clench a little painfully.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Ronan still looks like he can’t fully believe it. Adam kind of wants to kiss him right then and there to drive the point home, but he doesn’t know if Ronan would be up for it, and Adam would rather not get caught on camera fooling around on the job.

Adam didn’t realize how much he wanted to kiss Ronan Lynch until this very second.

“Blue and Gansey are gonna lose their minds,” he says, both to distract himself from any unwanted thoughts and because the thought of their friends’ reactions has just occurred to him.

“I bet they have a betting pool.”

“No they don’t. Blue thinks I hate your guts.”

“Gansey gives me a lecture about making an effort to get along with you every time we see each other.”

That concept is infinitely funny to Adam.

He forces his attention away from Ronan and does his usual closing routine, acutely aware of Ronan’s eyes following his every move. Adam focuses on the tasks at hand and doesn’t let himself dwell on all the reasons why this is probably not a good idea, why he should have thought about it some more, what it would mean for them and their friend group if it doesn’t work out and how ludicrous the thought of _him and Ronan_ would have seemed to him just an hour ago. It’s not too late to back out and Adam knows Ronan wouldn’t be a jerk about it, but Adam knows himself well enough to realize he doesn’t _want_ to.

When he turns back to him after bending down to tidy up the bottom shelves, Ronan is looking at him with the most lascivious expression on his face, not bothering to hide that he was checking Adam out the whole time. It says something that Adam _almost_ blushes.

“So, are you gonna let me take you home now?”

Adam strips off his uniform and pretends to think it over. “I don’t know. You sure this isn’t all a ploy to lure me out so you can kill me?”

“You’ve got to stop joking about me murdering you.”

“Don’t act like you never thought about it.”

“Don’t project onto me, Parrish. You’re the one who once told me I gave you ‘homicidal urges’.”

Adam gives him a rueful smile in response. Ronan is looking at him with a small smile on his face, eyes soft and fond, all traces of his usual attitude gone, and Adam looks back at him and thinks that maybe, just maybe, this could be the start of something good.

Adam finds he really, really wants it to be.

“Lynch?” Adam says.

“Yeah?” Ronan immediately answers.

“Take me home.”


End file.
